Article hanger



Patented Apr. 15, 1941 UNITED STATE ARTICLE HANGER,

Mervin A. Wilhelm and Walter E. Shorter, York, Pa.

Application May 1, 1939, Serial No. 270,998

3 Claims.

This invention relates to article hangers or supports of the type adapted to be used for supporting various kinds of articles in spaced relation.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved article hanger adapted to be constructed from a length of stiff wire which is formed at suitable intervals withholding members constructed in such a manner as toprevent the articles supported by the hanger from sliding along the wire.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved article hangervconstructed from a piece of wire bent at one end to form a pintle for mounting the device in a supporting bracket, the intermediate portion of the Wire being bent at intervals to form a plurality of transversely disposed depending loops, and the free end of the wire being so disposed as to be insertable in a clamp so that the hanger will be retained from lateral swinging movement. v

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is an inverted plan of a hanger constructed according to the invention, showing the same applied to the underside of a shelf board or similar support;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of thestructure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end View showing the clamp for retaining the free end of the device; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

While the hanger is shown applied to a shelf board, it will be understood that the same can be mounted on any other supporting means.

For mounting the hanger on a shelf I l or other horizontal support, there is provided a bracket I2, which may be formed fromsheet metal and which has a depending limb having one or more eyes i3 for receiving one end portion of the hanger.

Preferably the hanger is formed from a single length of stifi wire l4.

One end of the wire I4 is bent to form an inverted U-shaped portion I5, the free end of which constitutes a downwardly directed pintle is for mounting in the eyes l3 of the bracket I2.

At intervals throughout its length the wire I4 is bent to form a plurality ofdepending loops ll. As shown in Figs. 1 and 4, each loop I! is disposed transversely with respect to the longitudinal center line of the wire, with the main body of each loop lying in a plane below the longitudinally extending portion of the wire. The construction of the loop I! is such that the lengths 18 of wire which connect the ends of the loop extend diagonally across the center line of the device, in the manner shown in Fig. 1. In other words, the end of a loop on one side of the center line of the device is connected to the end of the next loop on the opposite side of the center line of the device.

The free end portion I9 of the wire is bent from the outermost loop I! so that a portion thereof is disposed along the center line of the device.

For the purpose of securing the end of the device so as to prevent accidental swinging movement thereof, a clamp 20 is provided. This clamp may be formed from a suitable piece of sheet metal which is bent to provide clamping jaws 2|, as shown in Fig. 3. The jaws 2| are spaced apart sui'ficiently toenable the end IQ of the device to be inserted therebetween or withdrawn therefrom, the jaws 2| frictionally retaining the end IS in the clamp in the manner illustrated.

One use to which the device has been put, is to constitute a support for cups, such as the cup 22 illustrated by broken lines in Fig. 2. It has been found that when a cup is mounted on each of the loops I1, the cups will remain in position on the hanger bar I4 relatively to each other. By spacing the loops [1 a suitable distance apart, the cups are free to swing to and fro without coming into contact with one another. In this way damage or breakage of the cups will be prevented.

Obviously, the device has other uses than those herein referred to and it is not the intention to limit its use to any specific purposes.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. A device of the class described comprising a hanger formed from a single piece of wire bent at one end to form an inverted U-shaped portion, the free end of which constitutes a downwardly directed pintle for mounting the device in a supvice for retaining the same from lateral swinging movements.

2. A hanger comprising a piece of wire bent to form a plurality of depending U-shaped loops,

each loop being disposed transversely with respect to the main portion of the hanger, one end portion of the wire bent to form an inverted U- shaped portion, the free end of which constitutes a downwardly directed pintle for mounting the end of the hanger in a supporting bracket, and the other end portion of said Wire being disposed along the longitudinal center line of the hanger for insertion in a clamping member to retain the hanger from lateral swinging movements.

3. A device of the class described comprising a hanger formed from a single piece of wire bent at one end to form an inverted U-shaped portion, the free end of which constitutes a downwardly directed pintle for mounting the device in a sup- 1;

porting bracket, the intermediate portion of the piece of wire bent at intervals to form a plurality of depending U-shaped loops, each loop being disposed transversely with respect to the longitudinal center line of the device with the ends of said loops connected by lengths of wire extending diagonally across the longitudinal center line of the device, and the outer free end portion of the wire extending from one end of the outermost transverse loop diagonally to the longitudinal center line and thence along the longitudinal center line to the end of the device.

MERVIN A. WILHELM. WALTER E. SHORTER. 

